Confucianism

I transmit but do not create. I place my trust in the teachings of antiquity. - Confucius, Analects VII

Introduction

Confucianism emphasizes harmony within human society, and to that end promotes a form of etiquette by means of
which a civilization can achieve astounding and fulfilling spiritual and material greatness. This etiquette is
the natural result of education, and by means of Confucianism one may learn of and practice right behavior with
immediate benefit. Confucianism bears a strong resemblance to Western Secular Humanism; however, it has a legacy of academic excellence nearly
unbroken for over two-thousand years.

Confucianism is a world religion embedded into Chinese folk religion and within Korean and Japanese social
values. Since the twentieth century it has attracted converts in Europe and the United States without active
solicitation.

Founding and Beliefs

Confucius was a great teacher born in China ca550 BCE. The major teachings of
Confucius refer to a concept of li, which is a Chinese word meaning “offering” but which refers to
formal ritual. Confucius loved li and used it as a means to inspire participants to profound
accomplishments; at the same time, he sought to create the society which could appreciate, rather than simply
perform, li. A related concept is that of ren, which is both a feeling of love for others and
the attribute of benevolence. Within Confucianism, a person who is ren practices li. This
lifestyle benefits society in measurable ways, while granting personal success and spiritual fulfillment to the
practitioner.

The core value in Confucianism might be politeness. Whereas many other
religions are introspective and private, Confucianism regards each person's active involvement in a
community as being the means to fulfillment. Civility is a matter of respecting fundamental relationships, those
being:

Child’s obedience to parent’s proper upbringing

Subject’s good morality to ruler’s benevolence

Wife’s fidelity to husband’s adoration

Young’s respect to old’s guidance

Friend’s constancy to more-experienced friend’s concern

In this hierarchy, the relationships are numbered in order of importance and listed so that the position on the
left gives deference to the position on the right. Higher-ranking parties in the scheme are subject to
ren criticism toward the goal of modeling the relationship after li.

These mutually beneficial relationships are permanent, even beyond
death. In this way the relationships become part of a spiritual system of ancestor veneration, often
improperly called “ancestor worship.” Furthermore, the status of any position in this hierarchy is continually
maintained by a system of merit. Such severance of interpersonal bonds is never done lightly; ren
ideally leads to conflict resolution before problems arise.

Confucianism’s open canon is standardized from these traditional texts:

Cosmology

Confucianist social theory offers immediate benefits to all practitioners, regardless of spiritual beliefs, but
the philosophy might be best grounded in religion as Confucius himself taught it should be. Li ultimately
results in betterment to participants, so although it might mention Tian (heaven), all of the benefit
comes from its actual execution and not from a divine response to li. The Yi-jing (I Ching)
elaborates on spiritual concepts of a force called qi; Confucianism sees more physical explanations for
benefits from qi than a related religion, Taoism.